Urge the Office of Legal Counsel to rescind Barr memo to Archivist

Take action! The Democrats Abroad urges everyone to ask Christopher Schroeder, the Assistant Attorney General overseeing the Office of Legal Counsel, to rescind the 2020 memo to the National Archivist. That memo, sent during U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr’s tenure, effectively stopped National Archivist David Ferriero from publishing the Equal Rights Amendment as the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The ERA met all constitutional requirements when Virginia became the 38th and final state needed to ratify on January 27, 2020.

DA highly recommends you do it the old-fashioned way — via letter or postcard. 

Correspondence to the Department, including the Attorney General, may be sent to:

Mr. Christopher Schroeder

U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001

It’s more personal and a stack of paper is harder to ignore. You can, of course, send an email (connect to that here) or call. Include your name, address, phone number and email.

The Department may be contacted by phone at the following:

Department Comment Line: 202-353-1555

Here’s an example for a letter, but make it your own:

Dear Mr. Schroeder, 
Congratulations on your appointment as Director of the Office of Legal Counsel. There is much to be done and we trust acting on the Equal Rights Amendment will be among your first accomplishments.

As a woman and supporter of the ERA, I urge you to withdraw the Jan. 6, 2020, opinion memo from the Attorney General Barr’s Department of Justice.  All constitutional requirements for the ERA to become the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution were satisfied when the Commonwealth of Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the ERA on Jan. 27, 2020. The National Archivist wrongly deferred to the opinion issued by the previous Administration’s Office of Legal Counsel. Please correct this error right away so that the ERA will be published immediately by the National Archivist, and all citizens of the United States will be protected by the U.S. Constitution.

Or send a short and to-the-point postcard:

Mr. Schroeder, congrats on your appointment!  Please pull AG Barr’s memo blocking the ERA and publish as soon as possible. Thank you!

In addition, make sure you sign the petition circulated by the ERA Coalition.

Thank you. Your letters and postcards do make a big difference.